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Israel rift roils Democratic ranks

“I think there are different voices on the Think Progress blog and some individual analysts - and some of that work, especially the blog, is I think aimed at reporting on and reflecting one aspect of the diversity of the views among the broad progressive community,” he said. “But what one blogger or analyst may write isn’t necessarily indicative of what our policy recommendations are for the administration or Congress when I’m doing meetings with our friends in government.”

The director of CAP’s national security program, Ken Gude, also drew a distinction between the blog, which is CAP’s loudest megaphone, and its less confrontational policy work.

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“There’s a distinction here that we have between the policy work that we do and the blogging work that we do,” he said. Middle East Progress “is clearly a progressive blog and it does respond to arguments that are made most forcefully by conservatives and it responds in that way.”

Gude also said the Center’s experts view the allegations of an Iranian assassination plot as credible, despite initial doubts, and said he wasn’t sure whether that perspective had been reflected on its blogs, or why not.

In interviews, several ThinkProgress officials described the Center’s goals differently. Two of them suggested that criticizing the Israeli government and raising doubts about allegations against Iran serve a useful political purpose: They open political space on Obama’s left, and give the president room to maneuver.

Gude denied that motive.

“There is no decision on the part of the Center for American Progress to push any line that would be to the left of [the Administration],” he said.

AIPAC and its allies have not been satisfied by those explanations. “To suggest that the organization is not responsible for people who are ‘just bloggers’ is ludicrous and insulting to people’s intelligence,” Block said. But CAP has refused to give ground, and while CAP’s top officials didn’t respond directly to POLITICO, Gude said he was unaware of Jewish Democrats’ concerns.

The seams sometimes show in the organization, however. Podesta, who recently stepped down from his longtime position as CAP’s president, “always wanted to stay out of Israel stuff from the beginning, because it’s a no-win issue for them,” a liberal Israel policy thinker and CAP ally said. “They’re obviously a progressive place, but if you want to attract a mainstream Clinton, New Democrat milieu, you can’t really do real progressive Israel stuff.”

But the fact remains that the Center’s most audible voices on the Middle East aren’t the former Clinton staffers who populate much of the organization, and they come from different foreign policy traditions. Duss, a confrontational presence on Twitter but typically a more careful blogger, was an intern for Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, for instance. It’s the stream from which many Washington figures who would prefer the U.S. push Israel harder drink.

“This is where James Baker and George H.W. Bush were, this is where Brent Scowcroft is, this is where Tom Pickering and Colin Powell are – this is not crazy stuff, we’re talking about mainstream, bipartisan positions,” said Jeremy Ben Ami, the executive director of J Street, which has sought in recent years to build an American “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby.

Duss’s deputies hail from farther to the left: Clifton and his colleague Ali Gharib came to CAP from Inter Press Service; their work is still published, by agreement with the Center for American Progress, on the blog of the Inter Press Service’s Jim Lobe, a stalwart of a range of foreign policy views on the left of the Democratic foreign policy spectrum.

Netanyahu is a crook! I'll say it again, if Iran started taking over Iraqi land because they believe that a man in the sky promised them that land thousands of years ago NATO would be launching a full scale assault on Iran. But when the crook is doing it, we must side with them because we benefit so much from their allegiance. It's like if Mexico started taking over Texas because they believe it's their land. Who would stand for this? I'll ask any one of you pro-Israel Cons, Indies and Libs, what does Israel do for the United States? what has Israel EVER done for the United States?

neither could possibly be Independent Thinkers, but rather minions for either Koch Bros $ or The Karl Rove Playbook =

Visit Israel, speak to those who have a vested interest in what Netanyahu says or does .... you shall find, as I have found ... Folks in Israel want him out! No - Netanyahu Never was an honest broker

as far as voting out = maybe Vote Out All Republicans who voted against the following passed legislation....

low-information-voters, OR voters with very short memories here's the partial list

1) Lilly Ledbetter Act = Equal Pay track for Women

2) HC Insurance Companies Must Spend 85% of Your premium On You. (1st time in history)

3) Seal-6 Killed bin Laden

4) Your 401K & IRA & Roth are back on top + Wall Street Reform Began (yes, more to do)

5) Saved or helped Small Business Create 2 Million Jobs (we were losing Jobs when he got here)

6) Ending Iraq on time, Speeding up Afghan-conflict

7) US Still Makes Cars (Auto-bailout worked too)

8) DOJ fighting for Voter-Rights (how many of those above states are passing Supression Laws?)

You really want to go back to "Losing Jobs?" Unemployment IS dropping

You really want to go back to zero in your Retirement Accounts? Stocks ARE UP over 12,0000

So ...... Obama must be at least On The Right Track!

OK, but don't complain when my "Starve-the-Beast" Republicans Kill all Government and cause another Stock-crash or when a tunnel leaks and you almost drown.

Caveat: [I wanted us to run an "Eisenhower Republican" with the balls to Honor Oath of Office & not take some Pledge that means more than our National Whole. Ike would do a big-project like Interstate Highway, so, I may be over a rock voting for Democratic Tickets across the board (local, state, Fed)]

Let's face it, Likud is a RIGHT WING political party that Netanyahu represents and his views are more aligned with the right wing of the Republican party. Likud does NOT want peace, and that is why they keep up the illegal settlements on Palestinian land and engage in the worn-out colonial strategy of DIVIDE AND CONQUER as they pit Fatah against Hamas. The ONLY Jews that support Likud's anti-peace policies are RIGHT WING JEWS, and Democrats have no obligation to these Jews at all since they fall well outside the political values of the Democratic Party.

Yes, I know there is a small percentage of these Right Wing Jews that give a lot of money to Democrats and are progressive on "some" issues, but I say FRICK THEM, and replace their money with those who really support the values of the Democratic Party. Just like I wouldn't take money from rich Nazis who were progressive on "some" issues, it is time to give these rich right wing Jews the boot as they are dragging down any serious opposition to right wing obstacles to peace in the Middle East.

For the first time in decades an administration has stood up to the right wing of the Knesset and have refused to march lock step with the Israeli right. Republicans play the schizm for all it's worth and claim that Obama is abondoning a long term ally. It's politics at its worst as Israel is a nation of political differences that are rarley brought to light here in the West. Hasbaran practioners see to that with their omnipresent propaganda that silences many on the left in Israel. As has always been the case, these adherents to the Hasbaran code of unethical behavior, always play the anti semitism card when confronted with a controversial issue. Well funded by the right, Hasbara has the means to monopolize the debate and all but silence the voices of Israelis who seek a meaningful discourse with Palestinians.

The Obama administration is fed up with Bibi and Avi and they make no bones about it either. The US has been fighting their proxy wars ever since the founding of the nation of Israel and we have little if anything to show for our efforts. We continually turn a blind eye to the oppression and the atrocities commited by the so called " Only Democracy in the Middle East " Israel is democratic in name only as Israeli Arabs have always been second class citizens in Israel proper. Past US administrations have watched helplessly and sometimes in concert with a nation who's goal is to ethnically cleanse Gaza of all its Palestinian residents. Some retired Israeli general just yeaterday called for the " bulldozing" of Gaza as a means of ridding Israel of that Palestinian problem. Sorta sounds like the " final solution" of decades past.

Typical of such "debates" is the total lack of definitions and specifics. When any criticism of Israel is deemed anti-Israeli without any discussion of the merits of the the original commentary, there is the appearance of knee-jerk support. Israeli society has a variety of views - it is not monolithic. So, is the objection to criticism actually camoflaged bias about some policy preference? Equivalent of wrapping oneself in the flag to justify a position?

Ultra orthodox Jews in Israel have practices that are more like Saudi society than American society (media reports that women have been removed some military units, women wearing burqa like clothing in some areas due to harrassment for wearing "western" clothing, some in group tried to get separate polling places for men and women). They also avoid military service (some in Israel reportedly object to their status as benefiting from the military's protection but avoiding service). If someone objects to the US providing military aid to Israel given its developed economic status (plus recent discoveries of natural gas) and given that Israel could utilize existing manpower resources better (plus Israel recently reduced its military spending), is that person anti-Israeli? Person isn't advocating destruction of Israel or imposing sanctions. Other allies with developed economies don't receive such aid, so why should Israel be treated differently? As indicated in article, some will then say such criticism is anti-Israel, but never provide a counter argument.

Perhaps there is recognition by some that defending certain Israeli actions would be challenging based on the facts (when we attacked Iraq in 2003, journalists were embedded with military units and were free to report. During an incursion of Gaza, journalists were prevented from observing and there were reports from Israeli soldiers that some Israeli military personnel killed innocent civilians. If true, that's no more acceptable than Assad killing civilians. Yet the reports of alleged Israeli misbehavior garner very little attention -- including killing Palestinians, destroying their crops and burning mosques).

We must never let the Far Left do to the Democratic Party what the Far Right has done to the Republicans. Israeli democratic values and concerns are substantially the same as are American. This distressing effort of the fringe to split the liberal movement is as foolhardy and destructive as was moveon.org's early equating Petraeus with Betray-us. The issues of values and of geopolitics coincide here, regardless of changing politics within either country, the USA or Israel. It would be stupid and wrong, both morally and politically, to turn the Democratic Party into a far-leftist anti-Israel party.

Considering that the chief funder of the Center for American Progress and Media Matters is the renowned Nazi collaborator George Soros, it kinds of stands to reason that they would in fact agitate for the defacto destruction of the Jewish State. Not right now, mind you. But eventually, those Jooos are just too much trouble and they'll have to leave. Disruptive and all that. I'm sure that the leftist scum at these two organizations can dust off the Reinhard Heydrich playbook and find some pointers.

wspmd, Reply#14: And any others reading this comment...The Leadership of the Democratic Party (Obama and company) have ALREADY turned the Party into a far-left, anti-isreali party...Where have you all been? If you think, after listening to Rev. Wright for 20 years, HIS CLOSNESS with Rev. Farrakhan that Obama has any love for Israel or the Jewish people, you people are delusional.....Obama is ONLY CONCERNED with obtaining the Jewish-American votes in the upcoming Presidential Election, NOTHING MORE.......

wspmd, Reply#14: And any others reading this comment...The Leadership of the Democratic Party (Obama and company) have ALREADY turned the Party into a far-left, anti-isreali party...Where have you all been? If you think, after listening to Rev. Wright for 20 years, HIS CLOSNESS with Rev. Farrakhan that Obama has any love for Israel or the Jewish people, you people are delusional.....Obama is ONLY CONCERNED with obtaining the Jewish-American votes in the upcoming Presidential Election, NOTHING MORE.......